Tracking Time on Jobs
Accurate time tracking lets you compare actual labour cost against your quoted price, pay engineers correctly, and identify which job types take longer than expected. Trade2Base supports both live timers on the mobile app and manual hour logging from desktop.
Starting and stopping a timer from the engineer app
Open the job in the app
Engineers tap the job from their schedule or job list. The job detail screen shows a large Start timer button.
Tap Start timer
The timer begins running. The engineer can lock their phone — the timer continues in the background and is visible in the notification bar.
Tap Stop timer when finished
The elapsed time is saved as a time entry against the job, tagged to that engineer with the start and end timestamps.
Add a note (optional)
After stopping, engineers can add a brief note to the time entry (e.g. “First fix wiring complete”) for internal reference.
Tip
Engineers can start and stop the timer multiple times on the same job — useful when they leave site for materials and return. Each start/stop creates a separate time entry that rolls up to the total.
Manually logging time from desktop
Admins and office staff can log time on behalf of engineers, or engineers can log hours retrospectively if they forgot to use the timer.
Open the job and click the Hours tab
On the job detail page, click the Hours tab alongside Notes, Photos, and Checklist.
Click Add time entry
A dialog opens where you select the engineer, enter the date, start time, and end time (or total duration in hours and minutes).
Save the entry
The entry is saved and the job's total logged hours updates immediately.
Multiple engineers logging time on the same job
When multiple engineers work on the same job, each logs their own time entries independently. The Hours tab shows all entries broken down by engineer, with individual totals and a combined total at the top.
Each engineer sees only their own entries in the mobile app.
Admins see all engineers' entries on the desktop Hours tab.
Total logged hours combines all engineers automatically.
You can edit or delete any entry from the desktop Hours tab if a correction is needed.
Viewing total logged hours vs estimated hours
On the job detail page, the Hours tab summary shows three figures side by side: the estimated hours from the quote (if labour lines included a duration), the total hours logged so far, and the variance. A green indicator means you are within estimate; amber or red means the job is running over. This gives managers an at-a-glance view of which jobs are over-running before they become a cost problem.
Using time tracking for labour cost analysis
Trade2Base multiplies each engineer's logged hours by their hourly cost rate to calculate the actual labour cost of the job. This is compared to the labour value on the quote so you can see whether you are making money.
Quoted labour value: the total of all labour line items on the accepted quote.
Actual labour cost: logged hours × engineer cost rate (set in Settings → Team).
Labour margin: the difference between what you quoted for labour and what it actually cost.
Visible in Reports → Job profitability — filter by job type, engineer, or date range.
Setting an hourly cost rate per engineer
Go to Settings → Team
Click on the engineer's name to open their profile.
Enter the hourly cost rate
This is your internal cost — what you pay the engineer per hour including on-costs such as NI and pension. It is never shown to customers.
Save
Trade2Base uses this rate going forward for all new time entries logged against that engineer.
Tip
Cost rates are visible only to admins. Engineers using the mobile app cannot see their own cost rate or the job's profitability figures.
Exporting time entries as CSV for payroll
Go to Reports → Time entries
Filter by date range (e.g. last pay period), engineer, or job.
Click Export CSV
The CSV includes engineer name, job reference, job address, date, start time, end time, total hours, and hourly cost rate.
Import into payroll software
Use the CSV in your payroll tool (e.g. Xero Payroll, Sage, BrightPay) to calculate wages based on actual hours worked.
Time tracking visibility — admin vs customer
Time entries are internal by default and are never shown to customers in the customer portal or on invoice PDFs. Customers see only the quoted and invoiced amounts. Admins and managers can see all time entries across the business from the desktop app; engineers see only their own entries on the mobile app.
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